Car-door.



W. W. GO-RK.

OAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED QEP'I. 8, 1910.

Patented Dec. 27, 1910.

2 sums-sum 1.

Witnesses Inventor W. W. CORK.

CAR DOOR. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. e; 1910.

Patented Dec. 27, 1910.

2 SfiEETS-SHBBT 2.

Witnesses Inventor Attorneys UNiTE$ @Tfi WILLIAM W. CORK, 0F CA'ION, SOUTH DAKOTA, ASSIGNOR OF r rips.

ONE-HALF T0 EARL C.

KIMBALL, OF PAXTON, SOUTH DAKOTA.

CAR-DOOR.

Patented Dec. 27, 1910. Serial No. 580,493.

'10 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TLLLIAM W. CORK, a citizen of the United States, residing at- Caton. in the county of Mead and State of South Dakota, have invented a new and useful Gar-Door, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to car doors and one of its objects is to provide a door which is so mounted as to be capable of swinging upwardly or downwardly as well as to either side, the entire door being also mounted for bodily sliding movement.

Another object is to provide a novel form of door, the sections of which are connected by means of hinges of special construction.

A still further object is to provide means whereby the door will be supported at its upper end when swung downwardly for use as an incline.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts here inafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings :-Figure 1 is a front elevation of a door constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical l'lflIlSVGl'SG section through a portion of the car and showing the door in elevation and swung downwardly to an inclined position, the support being shown elevated under the door. Fig. 3 is an enlarged central lon gitudinal section through one of the upper hinges of the door, said section being taken on the line A-B Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line Cl) Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the members of a bottom hinge. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the guide or retaining plate used in connection with the members shown in Fig. 5.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference E designates a car structure having an ordinary door opening 6 and hingedly connected to the side of the structure close to and directly under the opening 6 is a sup portin attachment or frame made up of a longitudinal bar 1 having terminal arms 2 each of which has a laterally extending stud 3 bearing within an eye-bolt 1 or the like. Arcuate arms 5 are pivotally connected to the ends of the bar 1 and have ratchet teeth 6 thereon, any one of these teeth on each arm being adapted to engage a holding plate 7 in which the arm 5 is slidably mounted. One of these plates is provided for each arm, and both plates are firmly secured to the car structure E. It will be apparent that by disengaging the teeth from the plates 7, the arms 5 can be shifted within the plates so as to cause the supporting frame to extend at any angle desired from the side of the car.

Upper and lower rails 8 are arranged above and below the door opening, each of these rails being preferably formed of a metal tube and being mounted at its ends in brackets 9. The door used upon the car is located normally between the wall of the car and the two rails 8. This door consists of upper and lower strips 10 and 11 between which is arranged the body portion of the door. This body portion is made up of side strips 12 and a metal strap 13 which is secured thereto and connects the ends of the side strips, it being understood of course that the space between the straps and the side strips is closed by boards or the like.

Brackets 14 are secured to the strips 10 and 11 adjacent the ends thereof and are adapted to loosely embrace the rails 8 so as to permit the strips 10 and 11 to both slide and rotate upon the rails. The strip 10 has a block 15 attached to each end portion thereof and formed with a jaw 16 one face of which has a recess 17. A sliding jaw 18 is mounted within a recess 19 formed within the strip 10 and a stem 20 projects from this jaw and is surrounded by a spring 21 which serves to hold the jaw 18 normally in contact with the fixed jaw 16. A recess 22 is formed within the aw 18 and normally registers with the recess 17. Both of the jaws 16 and 18 have beveled faces 23 which converge toward the recesses 17 and 22. A face plate 24 is secured to the strip 10 and extends over the recess 19 this plate being provided with a slot 25 into which projects a finger 26 formed at one end of a rod 27. Said rod is slidably mounted in guides 28 secured to the door body and is pivotally connected to one end of a lever 29, the other end of said lever being pivoted to an operating lever 30. It will thus be seen that when the lower end of the operating lever is shifted in one direction lever 29 will be operated so as to shift the rod 27 longitudinally and cause the finger 26 to move the jaw 18 away from the aw 16, thus placing the spring 21 under stress. A notch or recess 31 is formed in the sliding jaw 18 for the reception of the finger 26 heretofore referred to. It is to be understood that a set- Of jaws and operating mechanism such as has been described is arranged. at each end of the upper strip 10. The jaws of each set are adapted to normally embrace and grip a pintle 32 extending upwardly from a plate 33 which is attached to one of the side strips 12, there being a head 34: upon the end of the pintle so as to prevent said pintle from being moved longitudinally from between the jaws. It is preferred that the said pintle be slightly resilient so that, when it is brought into contact with the beveled face 23 of the fixed jaw 16, as hereinafter set forth, the pintle will spring laterally past said face and into the recess 17.

The bottom strip 11 has fixed jaws attached to the end portions thereof, these jaws being similar to the jaws 16 and cooperating with slidable aws 36. This movable jaw works back of a retaining plate 37 having a slot 38 therein into which projects a knob 39. This knob extends from a ring 40 which is mounted to rotate upon the jaw 36 and notches l1 are formed in one wall of the slot 38 and either of them is adapted to receive the knob 39 so as to hold the jaw 36 against sliding movement. Each pair of jaws 35 and 36 is adapted to engage and hold a pintle 4-2 similar to the pintles heretofore described, these pintles as extending from plates t3 which are fixedly connected to the lower ends of the side strips 12.

It will be seen that when all of the pintles 32 and 42 are in engagement with the jaws 16, 18, 35 and 36, the door can only be moved along the rails 8 as an ordinary sliding door. Should it be desired to use the door as an incline to facilitate the loading or unloading of the car, the levers 30 are swung toward each other and the fingers 26 are thus drawn away from the pintles 32 so as to cause the sliding jaws 18 to become disengaged from said pintles. By then pulling outwardly upon the upper portion of the door body, the pintles 32 can be caused to spring out of engagement with the fixed aws 16 and the entire door, with the exception of the top strip 10, can then be swung downwardly with the lower rail 8 as a fulcrum. When the door has been lowered into contact with the ground, platform or other support, the

frame formed of the bar 1 and arm 2 can be swung upwardly until said bar cames into contact with the lower surface of the door. The arms 5 will slip through the plates 7 during this adjustment of the bar 1 and the teeth 6 thereon will prevent the bar and arms from moving downwardly to their initial positions. It will thus be seen that the arms 5 and bar 1 will reinforce the lower rail 8 supporting the inclined door and there is no danger of the door breaking the rail or becoming detached therefrom in any other way while it is being used as an incline. To close the door, it is merely necessary to swing it upwardly so as to cause the pintles 32 to strike the inclined faces of the jaws 16 with suflicient force to deflect the pintles laterally and thus permit them to pass into engagement with the recessed faces of the jaws. During this movement of the pintles the movable jaws 18 will be shifted laterally until said pintles have assumed posit-ions between the recesses 17 and 22, whereupon the jaws 18 will automatically return to their initial positions and the pintles will therefore be locked in place. To swing the door upwardly out of the way, the lower pintles 12 are disengaged from the jaws 35 and 36, this being effected by disengaging the knobs 39 from the slotted plates 37 and shifting the jaws 36 longitudinally.

Should it be desired to swing the door laterally one of the pintles d2 is first freed by shifting the adjoining jaw 36 out of engagement therewith and the pintle 32 directly thereabove is then freed by shifting the lever 30 controlling the jaw 18 engaging the same. When these two pintles at one side of the door have thus been freed, the door can be swung outwardly, the other two pintles 32 and L2 constituting the pivot of the door. It will be apparent of course that the door can be swung either to the right or to the left by releasing the proper pintles.

It is of course to be understood that various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

hat is claimed is 1. The combination with rails, of a door including detachable upper and lower strips slidably and revolubly mounted upon the rails.

2. The combination with rails, of a door including detachable top and bottom strips, means upon each of said strips for slidably and revolubly engaging one of the rails, said means being non-detachable from the rails.

The combination with rails, top and bottom strips slidably and revolubly mount ed on the rails, a door body interposed between the top and bottom strips, and means for detachably connecting the door body to the strips.

4. The combination with top and bottom strips mounted for rotation about parallel axes, of a door body interposed between said strips and hinges connecting the ends of each strip with the door body, each hinge consisting oi: separable members.

5. The combinatlon with top and bottom strips mounted for rotation about parallelaxes, of a door body interposed between said strips, hinges connecting the ends of the strips with the door body, said hinges constituting the sole connection between the strips and body and each hinge consisting of separable members.

6, The combination with parallel strips mounted for independent rotation about parallel axes, of a door body interposed between and separate from the strips, and hinges constituting the sole connection between said strips and the body, each hinge consisting of separable members.

7. The combination with parallel strips mounted for rotation about parallel axes, of a door body interposed between and separate from .aid strips, hinges connecting the ends of each strip with opposite portions of the door body, each hinge consisting of a member secured to the door body wand a member secured to a strip, the said members being detachably connected.

8. The combination with parallel strips mounted for rotation, of a door body interposed between and separate from the strips, hinges constituting the sole connections between the strips and body, each hinge being located adjacent one end of a strip and consisting of a member secured to the body portion and a member secured to the strip, said members being detachably connected.

9. The combination with rails, of strips mounted for sliding and revoluble movement thereon, a door body separate from and interposed between the strips, and separable hinges constituting the sole connections between the body and strips, said body being adapted to swing on the hinges upon axes extending perpendicularly to the rails.

10. The combination with rails, of strips slidably mounted upon the ails, a door body interposed between and separate from the strips, pintles extending from opposite portions of the body, and means upon the strips for detachably engaging the pintles.

11. The combination with rails, of top and bottom strips slidably and revolubly mounted on the rails, a door body interposed between and separate from the strips, pintles extending up "ardly and downwardly from the door body adjacent opposite side edges thereof, and separate means upon each of the strips for detachably engaging the respective pintles.

12. The combination with rails, o1 top and bottom strips slidably and revolubly mounted on the rails, adoor body separate from and interposed between the strips, upwardly and downwardly extending pintles upon said door body and adjacent the cor ners thereof, fixed jaws upon the strips and adapted to be engaged by the pintles, and shiftable jaws for holding the pintles in en gagement with the fixed jaws.

13. The combination with rails, of top and bottom strips mounted to swing upon the rails, a door body separate from and in terposed between said strips, upwardly and downwardly extending pintles upon the body, and means on the strips for detaclr ably engaging the pintles.

I l. The combination with rails, of top and bottom strips mounted to swing upon the rails, a door body interposed between and separate from the strips, pintles extending upwardly and downwardly from the door body, fixed jaws upon the strips and adapted to be engaged by the pintles, shiftable jaws for holding the pintles normally in engagement with the fixed jaws, and an actuating device connected to one of the movable jaws and mounted on the body.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto atlixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM V. CORK.

Witnesses Mrs. C. E. CATON, Gr. H. SrRY. 

